#21: Injustice Unbound! Pt. 1 (Walsh / Rimmer)

Previously, in Justice League...
...criminals across the country are receiving expert plans and tools from Injustice, Unlimited, an organization dedicated to expanding the efforts of metahuman criminals everywhere; while the central cabal of Clock King, Angle Man and I.Q. worked hard to expand their contacts and membership, their enforcers Dreadbolt and Black Spider ensured that the organization was taken as seriously by their own ranks as by the heroes facing them down; with crime and profits rising, the Justice League was finally able to acquire some knowledge of the group’s existence when they disrupted an alliance between IU and the interstellar arms smuggler Byth, rescuing Zan and Jayna, alien shapeshifters being offered for sale as living weapons; and the Question liberated the mystery girl Gypsy from the cabal, giving the heroes their first critical edge against this shadowy force for super-crime! And still lurking in the background is the insane Atomic Skull, who continues to pursue his vendetta against the fictional villain Doctor Electron, and his partner and lover, Penny Dreadful, who has discovered during one of their recent crimes, that maybe the evil Doctor isn’t quite so fictional as everyone believes!

And now...

Justice League
Issue #21: “Injustice Unbound! Act I: Event Horizon”

Written by Don Walsh
Cover by Jamie Rimmer
Edited by Mark Bowers[/center]

“You’re sure we’re free of detection here, Ira?” The Clock King glanced around the cluttered room warily, hands tight around his cane as he took in the detritus of a dozen experiments.

“Yeah, we’re safe here, don’t worry,” I.Q. answered as he cleared off a chair for his partner and then kicked a stool over for himself. “It’s safe to say the three of us all have bolt-holes we’ve not elected to share with each other, and this is one of them. Plus I’ve activated my ‘dead-signals’ jammer. Makes this place look completely empty to all sensory input. At least, all the input I’ve ever heard of, and I daresay, that covers a lot of ground.” He leaned back, arms folded over his chest and a smug smile on his face.

“That explains your stellar rate of return to prison,” the Clock King said dryly. “Regardless, this does seem our most opportune moment to discuss the Angle Man.”

“Then you’re having the same concerns I am?”

“Indeed,” Temple Fugate replied as he adjusted his clock-dial glasses. “Tardiness to meetings, private meetings with certain clientele, and it was Mr. Bend who proposed the business arrangement with Byth that could have resulted in catastrophe. One well outside the scope of our union.”

“He’s up to something. We’re just a front to him.” I.Q. nodded his head, a grim look on his face. “It would explain how Mr. Exeter disappeared with that large sum of money so completely. We couldn’t find him, the League couldn’t find him. And we both know how relentless their detectives are.”

“The question before the two of us is two-fold: do we make contingencies for inevitable treachery, and if we are to continue our business venture beyond Angelo Bend’s involvement, to whom do we proffer his seat?” Clock King folded his fingers in a temple and stared at the other criminal.

“Of course, and I have a suggestion,” I.Q. replied quickly. “We’ve never had such a successful operation. I’m not going to let it go just because Angle Man’s got...an angle. We should have known from the start, when he pitched us the idea, that it was just that. An angle. But it’s too good to pass up. And rotting away in Blackgate is the Crimesmith, a soul tailor-made for our enterprise.”

Clock King stroked his slender chin now and let a smile creep across his face. “His modus operandi does seem to mesh well with our business goals. But Blackgate?”

“Blackgate Penitentiary. Absolutely. The Bat is on the outs with the League, so neither side is likely to call the other in,” I.Q. went on to explain. “Because of the type of freak Gotham gets, it’s the least metahuman-resistant prison. And if we’re giving him a golden ticket away from the Flying Mouse Family, he’s going to be very unlikely to refuse our job offer.”

“Very well. An excellently made case. You prepare the escape plan with our enforcers.” Clock King stood up and brushed his suit coat and straightened his immaculately tailored trousers. “I will see what I can discern of our rank and file in regard to Angle Man. Maybe something of his agenda can be ascertained.”

“Good luck.”

“To both of us. To Injustice.”

The Hall of Justice
Wonder Woman looked around the meeting table at the nine faces that stared back at her. Eight faces, she mentally corrected herself as her eyes settled on the Question at the far end. Ten of us, and the three young ones, and I still wonder if we’re undermanned. She then tapped the touchpad at her station and began the meeting.

“First order of business, the Dharlu,” Queen Diana announced as the central holo-projector lit up an image of the alien creature that was held 22,300 miles above them, in their satellite. “Thanks to our young charges, we’ve been reminded of this creature, and its situation.”

“The creature serves a very useful function,” J’onn J’onzz said as he leaned forward on the table. “Designed as it was to gain control of the satellite, it is uniquely capable of uniting the inherent incompatibility of the various alien operating systems and technologies.”

“It’s a living creature,” Ralph Dibny brought up quite quickly. “Alien or no. I mean, it’s pretty clear that the League doesn’t treat aliens as non-people, right?”

“Right. But J’onn, Flash and I have gone over every single reading and test result we can run on this thing,” the Atom explained, typing away at his own desk station, these reports flashing alongside the image in response. “This Dharlu has no life outside of controlling the station, and no desire for anything besides. It’s less an alien being and more a...living operating system.”

“I’m uncomfortable relying on this alien to run things when a degree or two difference could have it sticking its tentacle where it doesn’t belong,” Hawkgirl said as she drummed her fingers on the table. She took a quick glance at Kit and Ralph and narrowed her eyes. “Taking our minds over!”

“Right. Of course, we knew what you meant,” Kid Eternity answered with a wink as he floated behind Manitou Dawn’s chair. “It makes a good temporary measure, right? Then we can find somewhere to let this thing...do whatever it needs to. That’s what I say. We’d be meaner to it if we said it couldn’t run the satellite, right?”

Wonder Woman took another long look at the members around the table, seeing that none of them, not even the ones in support of the idea, were happy with the situation. Even the Question seemed to frown at the thought, which she found a disturbing impression. “We’re agreed then?”

“Good. Because we have much, much bigger things to worry about,” the faceless detective said, cutting off the murmurs of the other members in response. “This Injustice, Unlimited. I don’t think you’ve yet realized what a danger this group is to you.”

Diana sat down in her chair now, arms folded and stared hard at the newest member of the League. She didn’t like being cut off like this. “Do tell, Question. What words of wisdom do you have to impart?”

“We know this group was in contact with Byth,” the Question continued, disregarding the irritation in the Amazon. Instead, he operated the controls now, and called up the images of Angle Man, I.Q. and Clock King, setting them to slowly rotate at the center. “We know these three are involved thanks to Gypsy. We know they’ve supplied many of the super-criminals with master plans in recent months.” Profiles for Atomic Skull and Penny Dreadful appeared orbiting the three other images, followed by the acrobatic thieves Double Dare, then he added Big Sir, Copperhead, Amos Fortune, the Trigger Twins, and others to the orbiting faces of crime. “This should have been uncovered sooner with the brain power the League can draw on, but you couldn’t. As soon as you learned a hint of this,” he punched a button and Dr. 7’s face started to rotate off to one side, “you were drawn into a red herring chase for this man’s assistant.” Exeter’s face now began to orbit with the sorcerer’s. “Immediately after that trail was begun, someone activated a signal that drew the Overmaster to this world, putting it into peril.” Kanjar Ro and Overmaster and their minions started to spin around the entirety of the super-criminals now. “Someone provided Kanjar Ro with this knowledge and when to utilize it best. Then the Key somehow came across information that again drew your attentions. Just as Exeter was about to be found. Then again, with Starbreaker and Byth.” He looked up at the massive array of enemies, forming an intricate pattern that whirled over the heads of the heroes. “Those are my words of wisdom, Wonder Woman.” He turned that blank face toward Wonder Woman now.

“Paranoid delusions,” Hawkman snapped angrily. “You force your way into our number and then try to pass off this fantasy as proof of your worthiness?” He stood now and leaned forward on his fists, glaring at the Question. “We have the two...” he paused as he looked at Ralph and then corrected himself, “three greatest detectives on Earth. Ralph, his mate and the Batman, none of them saw this pattern.”

Ralph reached a hand around the table, past a half-dozen fellow members, and rested it on Katar’s shoulder. “Calm down, pal. Thanks for the compliment. Really. But Sue and I, we were focused on finding Exeter and the money. We were too close. Batman was...”

“Distracted,” Wonder Woman muttered. “By matters more pressing to his city.” She looked over to see Ralph’s nose twitching as the Elongated Man stared at the massive pattern of faces.

“So let’s go on the assumption that Question is right, we’ve missed this, and this new Injustice group is behind all this,” Flash said, eager to calm nerves and find a solution. “What do these guys hope to gain? I mean, is this all just a revenge plot against us?”

“It seems to me that there’s a missing link,” the Manhunter from Mars proposed as he kept his gaze on the images. “None of the three at the core of this plot possess the various knowledges and skills needed to make contact with all the beings in question or know of all the artifacts that have been brought to bear with them.”

“Yeah, good catch, J’onn,” Atom muttered as he called up the profiles of Angle Man, I.Q. and Clock King. “Maybe a couple of these people and objects,” he continued to muse as he called up the Amber Room and attached it to the Key, and summoned images of the Emerald Tablets and the Ark of the Covenant to attach to Overmaster, and the relics utilized by Kanjar Ro. “But those three couldn’t know about all of them, could they?”

“Angle Man is supposed to be dead,” Question added. “I have it on good authority he died quite some time back, while...in government custody.”

“I’d heard something like that too,” Diana confirmed. She glanced over at Manitou Dawn, who scribbled at a notepad in a frenzy. “You’ve been quiet.”

“Sorry. Busy. There’s a shape building here. I’ve seen it, but I can’t remember where. I’m pretty sure it was back at the Sanbourne Institute, so I’ll head there and go looking for it.” Dawn glanced around at the others now, seeing intense faces and held the intricate shape up to them. “Unless any of you recognize it?” She watched the group shake their heads, answering negatively.

“We don’t have a crisis in front of us at the moment,” Hawkman said as he turned to Wonder Woman. “If the Question is right, then this is the time to put pressure on these criminals. Finally get a handle on this Injustice, Unlimited, learn how it works, and bring them down!”

“I have to agree. Some of us should keep the looking and investigating up, but these guys are getting out of hand. Big Sir, the Atomic Skull...these are not people who should be successful criminal masterminds,” Flash said as he looked over the police and FBI reports.

“Dawn, you’ll head back to, and look into, that symbol. Ralph, you and Sue try to find what you can about the three brains in the middle of all this. Question...keep following your line of investigation. Kit, you’ll stay here and maintain communications between us with Gypsy, Zan and Jayna.” Wonder Woman stood up and stared at the rest of the Justice League. “The rest of us will go after this rank and file, help the authorities to dampen this crime wave, and maybe get some other answers.”

Kid Eternity watched the rest of the Justice League storm off on their assignments and gave a low sigh. He ran his fingers over the desk stations and then glanced up at the images still floating over the table.

“Kit?” Gypsy asked timidly.

“Time to teach you three how to work the consoles,” Kit said as he turned to the three wards with a big grin on his face. “Then a run-through on the communications and onto the monitor room. We’re the eyes and ears of the League, so let’s not let them down.”

Ten miles southeast of Salina, Kansas
“Explain to me, and quickly, why we’re in the middle of goddamned nowhere.” Merlyn stared around at the flat grasslands that eventually became tall stalks of grain further away.

“I agree. I don’t see how we get bloody revenge on the Justice League here,” Cheetah added as she crouched low and sniffed the clean air, glittering eyes alert and wary. “What’s going on, Angle Man?”

“Please, please,” Angelo Bend said in that smooth voice of his, as he tugged on his cuffs and looked at his two new recruits. “I assure you this is precisely where we want to be.” He moved his left hand out and around him in an arc, coming to a stop clutching his golden Penrose triangle.

“I thought your Injustice group didn’t let in killers, Angie,” Merlyn teased the man. “Going all soft on us?”

“Me? No. Not at all. Injustice, Unlimited serves its purpose,” Angle Man said as he turned to face the black-clad archer. “But understand some things, Merl. First, my purpose is bigger than some supervillain union hall. Second, you two aren’t here to be members of IU. Third, my name is not ‘Angie’. And finally, everything: IU, you two, what you’re both about to see...” Angle Man thrust his weapon out to the side and gave it a sharp twist and then slashed through the air with it and the archer found his quiver spilling to the ground as it was neatly sliced off from afar. “...is to prove that Angle Man is a name to be feared!”

Cheetah watched the exchange of male bravado with amusement, and paid little heed to Angelo Bend’s boasts. She was on the verge of boredom with all of the villain’s preening already. Until Angle Man began to weave his Angler through open space again, an intricate pattern that caused the air to shimmer, then ripple, then part like a torn silken web. “Angelo, I didn’t know you had this in you,” she whispered in awe.

“There’s more. Go on in, you two, and learn everything. We’ve a lot of work to do.” Angle Man stood to one side and gave a brief bow, arms outstretched toward the dimensional portal. He watched Cheetah jump through, face filled with curiosity. Merlyn was more wary, and grabbed up a few of his spilled arrows before passing through. Then the green-suited criminal genius followed and let the portal seal up behind him.

“Where are we?” Merlyn demanded as he looked around at the blank white space that surrounded him.

“The domain where the Justice League’s defeat was born. The place where you two will learn everything you need to in order to do your parts in their downfall. The home of my partner.” He started to lead them through the unrelenting blankness around them.

It was Cheetah’s sharp eyes that first caught sight of the lone structure hanging in the middle of nothing, the lone domicile in the endless void, and it was she that saw the front door start to open for them.

Los Angeles, California
Penny Dreadful chuckled to herself as she swept the tiny pile of flash drives into the pouch on her belt. She could hear her man on the other side of the room making his own score, and she loved to hear him play his part. She looked over at the huddled researchers as they watched her make off with years of research and chuckled. “Don’t worry, dears. We’re just here stealing, not sabotaging. Our buyers aren’t concerned with patents and all that stuff. They just need the research.”

She turned around and headed back to the Atomic Skull as he loomed angrily over the head of a rumpled, agitated middle-aged man. The small fellow tapped hurriedly on his keyboard as the Skull’s fiery wreath crackled ominously in his ears. “C’mon! All of it! What’s taking so long?”

“S-sorry, sir...I’m rushing! Honest, fast as I can, it’s just...it’s a lot of files...you’re asking for a lot of files, and they’re all sp-spread out,” the administrator stammered as he collected the financial and personnel information for the Tyrell Corporation as quickly as the system would allow.

“I’m sure you’re doing your best, sweetie,” Penny said in a syrupy voice, cold eyes staring down at the poor man. She leaned over and ran a finger through his hair, making it stand on end as she did. “You just keep at it, and make the big, bad Atomic Skull behind you happy.”

“We’re already behind the plan’s schedule,” the Skull growled as he looked back up into Penny’s eyes now, his fleshless face showing as much nervousness as possible. “I’m not liking this.”

“We have the plans for this ‘transparency ionization’, honey. Can’t we just go? This alone will get us a ton of cash,” Penny suggested to try and soothe him.

“No! That’s just for the money. It’s not the important part of our plan! This is! You know that, love, you know that the...” He stopped his angry rant when she saw her flinch and then shake her head and put a finger to her lips. “Sorry. Don’t be scared, I’m not mad at you.” He leaned down closer and held his head close to the employee, the corona brushing over the poor man’s skin. “Right? Not her I’m mad at, is it?”

“N-n-no, s-s-sir. Me...it’s me...but here.” He pulled the thumb drive from the computer and held it up in his shaking hand. “Here, it’s all here!” He felt the Skull pluck it from his nerveless fingers and then dropped his head to his desk and sobbed.

“Good job.” The Skull patted the man on a shoulder. “Time to go, honey bunny.”

“Damn. Not yet, pumpkin,” Penny replied as she started to look up toward the ceiling, as if able to see beyond it. “People passing the security fence. Fliers!”

“Knew it took too long,” the Atomic Skull snarled in return, as he clenched his fists. He stomped over to the security desk to check the monitors as Penny stashed the pouch of fragile information into her lover’s reinforced jacket.

The front doors shattered apart as Hawkman and Hawkgirl swooped into the building, maces at the ready. “Stand down!” Hawman demanded as soon as the winged wonders were in the lobby.

The Skull looked up from the monitors, eyes flaring and angry. “Not this close! Not when we’re this close to the truth!” Raw power cascaded from the fiery aura around the strange villain’s head, blasting into Hawkman’s chest and hurtling him to the far side of the lobby, smashing through tall glass windows.

“Question got this one right,” Hawkgirl replied as she darted up and brought her weapon into the Skull’s stomach. As he doubled over, she quickly brought her mace around in an overhead arc, but never completed her maneuver.

“Back away from my man, chickie-poo!” Penny yelled as arcs of electricity poured from her fingertips and cascaded over the feathered fury. Kendra felt every inch of her skin tense from the jolting, and her back cracked up against a wall, pinning her in place. “Hurt him and I hurt you, got it?”

“The same goes for you, madwoman!” Hawkman declared as he hurled his mace at her with all his strength. It cracked the side of her head, barely blunted by the electricity coursing over her. She spun to the side and crashed to her knees in pain, joined by Hawkgirl as she tried to catch her breath.

“Penny!” Atomic Skull roared as he tore up the large reception desk and brought it down on Hawkman. Katar barely managed to roll away from the worst of the blow, but it gave the powerful criminal a chance to close, and Katar found himself in a super-strong grip. “I wonder, if I strip the flesh from your head, will you look like me, or just die?”

Katar’s answer was a cry of pain, as the energy blasted into his face. The attack left him staggered and blinded, but Hawkman recovered as quickly as he could. With all his strength, enhanced by the harness, he lifted up into the air, swift as his namesake, using the villain as a battering ram to smash through each successive floor of the Tyrell building and up into the sky above. The Skull’s assault faltered at that point, surprised by the sudden battering and loss of ground beneath him.

Hawkgirl recovered before her criminal counterpart and closed with the electrical redhead. “Okay, time to wrap you up for the cops.”

“No,” Penny corrected Kendra as she remained on her hands and knees. “Time for you two to play hero.” She stretched out control of her power and overcharged every circuit in the building. Lights failed, delicate equipment started to pop and spark and electrical fires broke out across the structure. “Right? That’s what the plan says to do. Let you guys do what you like to do while we get away.”

“Not if I get to do both!” Kendra said angrily as she brought her mace down on Penny. Lights exploded in the criminal’s eyes, then darkness closed up on her, but the plan had worked, as Kendra watched the weakened floor give out under the added force and Penny crashed down into the unlit basement, vanishing from view as cries from the workers echoed around her. “Dammit! Outsmarted by a walking Duracell!” She hit her communicator in fury. “Hawkman, we have a situation in the building!”

Hawkman barely heard his partner’s words as his helmet cracked from the force of the flaming forehead battering into the bridge of his nose. He faltered and dropped several feet as he brought his knee up into Skull’s sternum, driving air from the villain’s lungs. “Drop already!” Katar growled as he continued his battle with the Skull.

“Katar! Drop the flaming freak and help me out down here!” Kendra yelled over the communicator. Hawkman spared a glance to see small fires breaking out across the building and then glared back at the Atomic Skull.

“It’s us or all those people down there,” Skull pointed out as he grappled with the winged warrior.

“I’m a law enforcer first,” Katar countered as his hands gripped the Skull’s collar and he stared to streak back to the ground. At the very last second, he used the villain’s momentum and his own sharp turn to dislodge his opponent and send him tearing into the concrete of the parking lot. He paused to look at the aftermath of the crash, and frowned when he saw the Atomic Skull pull himself to his feet. Kendra was still evacuating the workers and he shook his head and took off to help her at last, knowing what it would mean.

In short order, the fire department responded, trucks screeching up into place and firefighters racing into position, a police cordon set up around the grounds, and the feathered furies alighted near the captain coordinating the response. Katar stormed off moments later in anger when his expectations were met.

“Sorry about that, captain,” Kendra said as she watched her partner soar away.

“No problem, miss. I can just guess what it must be like to let those two slip away, but thanks to you both for the help containing this mess,” he answered with a nod of his head. “Things would have been much worse without your help.”

Hawkgirl shook his hand and then sped up into the skies as well.

Meanwhile...
...the two figures moved stealthily across the top of the prison walls, and dropping into the courtyard beyond. Merlyn made a motion to his partner, one that the keen-eyed Cheetah could make out in the gloom and she nodded in agreement. Each wanted to indulge in the targets that stalked the area, but they couldn’t risk discovery until they had reached their target. For now, the guards remained unharmed. They paused at a heavily secured metal door; Merlyn reached to a secure fastening on his quiver and slipped out the strange, shimmery silver key that had been given him for this mission. He ran it through the card-reader and the door slid open, making the two villains smile as they crept in further. They were two floors from their intended rescue.

A continent away, another shadowy figure swiftly clambered up the high brick-and-mortar walls of Blackgate Penitentiary, like a human version of his arachnid namesake. The deep purple of his costume shrouded Black Spider against the late night as he leaped into the guard tower and disabled the guards within, and then pointed one arm back toward the shore, a green dot appearing on the far dock. Quickly followed by a brief flare of blue-white that was matched by a similar flare next to Black Spider, the martial artist turned to face his partner, Dreadbolt.

“Step one,” Dreadbolt said with a grin. “Going like clockwork.”

“This were any easier, I’d be getting nervous,” Merlyn said as he watched Cheetah lick her clawed fingers clean. They walked past the latest guard station and deeper into Alcatraz’s high security cell blocks, leaving the dead guards in their passage. “This key’s amazing. I wish I could keep it.”

“Hey, what are you guys doing here?” Ralph Dibny looked at the two killers in surprise as his head twisted around the hallway corner. “I came to grill the ol’ Doc on if someone might be comin’ to get him, but you two?”

“The rubber man,” Cheetah hissed as she leaped at him without hesitation, claws missing her target only because he rippled his cheek away.

“Elongated Man, kitty,” Ralph said as he pulled out a cell phone and hit a button. “Here, it’s for you!” he said quickly to Merlyn as he tossed the small device to the archer.

Instincts kicked in and Merlyn caught the cell phone, and gave Ralph a strange look. Then a red and blue dot leaped from the receiver, enlarging enough to land a powerful kick to the side of the archer’s head, the Atom bouncing off his target and landing nearby at six inches in height. “Harder without actual phone lines, but nice to see I can still do it with a boosted signal.”

“Glad I called ahead for help,” Ralph said as he lashed out with his arms, trying to bind up the Cheetah and cinch her in tight. She got too close as a result, and she hissed, lashed out with pointed teeth and bit him hard on the nose. “Aaagh! Not the mystery-sniffer!” Ralph recoiled from the vicious bite and Cheetah quickly pressed her advantage, tearing into the hero’s rubbery form.

The alarms were ringing across the length and breadth of the prisons now, as Dreadbolt had ceased being stealthy and blown out the wall of the Crimesmith’s prison cell. He was staring at the stunned criminal with a cocky smile, hovering in the open space as Black Spider dropped a rope ladder down from the roof.

“Okay, here’s the deal, old man,” Dreadbolt told Dr. Jeffrey Fraser as the sirens rang and guards raced to train weapons on the break-in. “There are guys that want your brain power for crime-planning, and you’re gonna get a lot of money and a lot of influence if you take the offer. Or I’m gonna ‘port away and leave you holding the bag on a failed break-in, and with all this notice, you know who...” The young man held fingers up off either side of his head to mimic Gotham City’s guardian. “...has to be on his way to break who knows how many bones. So, you--”

Dreadbolt was interrupted by the Crimesmith leaping to the rope ladder and pulling himself up as fast as he could while the electrical villain provided cover from the gunfire. “You can teleport, young man, but I know your suit doesn’t carry others. How do we get off the roof?”

“Smaller size, your lungs won’t need as much of this,” Merlyn said as he reached into his pouch of spare arrowheads and chucked a cylindrical one toward where the mighty mite stood. “I don’t have to be much of an archer for something like this.” The arrowhead struck the ground and yellow gas started to pour from many tiny vents. Tiny to the six foot tall assassin, gaping holes spewing clouds of dangerous poison to the six inch hero, who started to cough and stagger from the unexpected attack. “Yeah, I guessed. It’s a super-heavy gas too. Enjoy,” Merlyn taunted, and with a swift kip-up was back to his feet, and headed toward his target.

Ralph flattened himself into a huge square and rolled Cheetah up tightly, then grabbed a catwalk and pulled himself from her as fast and hard as he could, leaving the cat-woman to spin and crash to the floor. His costume had several rents, and he was bleeding from the bites and tears she’d managed to inflict on him during his maneuver. He saw the Atom crash to the ground, enveloped by the dense amber clouds along the floor. He stretched a spatula-shaped hand down to scoop his partner up as Cheetah dashed toward her partner.

“Hear that?” Black Spider asked as helped Crimesmith up over the edge of the roof. “That would be our way out of here. It might be a little unnerving, but don’t worry, we have experts on the job to help.”

Fraser looked up as he saw a helicopter slicing through the air to the roof. Dreadbolt was busy running interference, blasts of energy dislodging knots of guards, and bursts of blue-white putting him between the gunfire and his team-mates. As the copter closed, he saw safety lines off each side, a young woman with red hair and bright yellow bodysuit hanging upside down on each side. Piloting the craft was fellow Gothamite Julian Day, the Calendar Man.

“Only the Flying Graysons were better acrobats, Dr. Fraser. Just reach up and let Double Dare do their jobs,” Black Spider assured the Crimesmith. In moments, four pairs of arms clasped each other tightly and the vehicle was racing into the night.

“We’ve got them now,” Ralph said as the Atom coughed hard and cleared his head. The Elongated Man took a stretched out step around the corner and toward the now-opened cell of Doctor 7, flanked by the two killers. “Ready for some slinging, buddy?”

“Sure thing,” Atom answered with narrowed eyes and increased focus, ready for some payback. As Ralph snapped his arm forward, the Atom hurtled through the air, increasing his density, prepared to put down at least one of the criminals on this first shot. But the heroes both noticed the odd symbols etched into the walls of the sorcerer’s cell, and then watched as Merlyn gave that smug, taunting smile of his, pulled that shimmery key back out and placed it into the door’s lock. He twisted it and the Atom crashed into the outer wall of the prison building itself. Ralph stretched forward at his fastest to catch his stunned friend.

“The cell is gone! The whole damned cell is gone!” Atom cried out in surprise.

“Hey, good try, coppers! Been fun playing, but gotta scoot!” Dreadbolt called out with a wave, a crackle of energy, and then a blue-white flare that left empty space in his wake.

At the Hall of Justice
“You heard me, Question,” Kid Eternity said as he stared into one of the two monitors before him. Gypsy sat at the controls, as Zan and Jayna fed reports from the various Leaguers into the computers and sent updates to everyone on the mission boards. “The Crimesmith.”

“That doesn’t fit the pattern at all. Everything else has, but that...that’s...” Question looked over the map-laden walls of his home, colored pins holding names of the villains he’d been tracking and the events that had gone down. “And Black Spider and Dreadbolt spearheaded it, you say?”

“Yes, Batman’s confirmed that,” Kid Eternity said as he spared a glance to the Dark Knight Detective on another monitor, who also nodded in affirmation. “Merlyn and Cheetah sprung Dr. 7 instead. And a bloody springing at that. At least three dead guards.”

“Why? Why now? Why change their M.O. now?”

“It’s a coup,” the Batman said in that gravelly voice that rattled even the ghostly coordinator. “That would be my deduction. One of the core of this Injustice, Unlimited, at least, is getting replaced.”

“We need to find out why, and fast,” Kit declared as he fiddled with his glasses and peered over the rims.

“Worse than that,” the Question said, as he faced Kid Eternity through the video screen. “I’m alarmed by one name in the Tyrell Corporation info we have. Mather Sanbourne.”

Kid Eternity just stared at the screen, prompting Gypsy to look over her shoulder at him. “Who’s that?”

“He founded the Sanbourne Institute,” Kit replied slowly. “Where Dawn works. Where she is. Right now.” And then he let the ethereal winds carry him away from the room, leaving the three youngsters alone.





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